Mom's new celebrity student~

I know my mom had a few ex students who now became popular celebrities: Awal Ashaari, Aishah Sinclair, Dynaz, Faizal Tahir and TV3 newscasters Azawate Zenol Abidin and Shahida Azad Jamaludin. Yeah.. maybe Mass Comm students have this desire to appear on TV after graduating. Maybe they wanna be called as graduate artistes kut.. mungkinlah..

She told me again of a student whom she is teaching now. But at this point of moment I am feeling a little bit frozen over the story that my mom just blurted.

Her current celebrity student now is JANNA SYARIZA. Yes, JANNA SYARIZA. The most-talked-about girl in Malaysia right now. The girl whose blog(s) received hundreds and thousands of critical comments in just a few days. A pilot's dumb daughter who lets herself continue to be the fiancée of the good-for-nothing, popularity-obsessed, university-dropout, potential-bisexual, can't-even-defend-himself-from-being-molested-by-a-sixty-year-old-man Saiful Bukhari.

I'm starting to feel the heat of living in a small world again!

(Iman, tidakkah anda berasa ingin menemani saya ke UiTM untuk melihat secara dekat minah ni?? Haha..)

This is definitely gonna be interesting ok. Who knows she would come to my place one day, bringing her fiancé along. Haha.. I'd love to imagine =)

Wanna know more about her? Ala, just Google la kay. Access to her blog has already been denied for unauthorized personnel (I just checked).

(well really, I would love to comment on that Saiful guy, but since there are too many informative posts here and there in the blogs, I will just read them instead of commenting too. But the fact is, he is already a gay, if he was really being s*******d)

Rantings on a Sunday

A SMALL WORLD

Okay. I must admit that I haven't been to sooo many places there are on the surface of Earth to call it small. But lately, the phrase 'what a small world' seems to be occurring for quite a few times already for me.. which you know, ignites the jitters at the back of my head. This is an example.

Like a month ago, I attended my distant uncle's wedding (he's my mom's second cousin) in Bangi. I was really eager to have a look at his bride cuz he was sooo adoring the laydee (how did I know..? I checked his friendster and blog la. Okay2.. now I sound like I was stalking, haha. No lah, not that kind of intention) When I came to the wedding and saw the bride, it came across my mind that she was someone kinda familiar to me. I totally forgot about it until last week when Nona aired the wedding ceremony. Indeed, she was really familiar. So, I did my usual searching method: seeking on Google.

And so, I came across her blog (yeah, she blogs, haha!) Reading her page from top to bottom, I managed to find the answer to my wondering. We lived in the same neighborhood before! And we even used to cycle in a group too.. only that I think she didn't really fancy me, and the same case was for me too.. and that we didn't really talk to each other.

And now she's my uncle's wife.. blimeyy.. (>_<) or should I say "eeuuuwww..~~~"

Nope, wouldn't try to make her remember our childhood stories though.. it's better that she doesn't even know that I'm related to the husband. Oh, my families are like that. We rarely do even yearly visits on Raya time. The ties are getting looser with the growing of globalization. Perhaps when I have my own children later, the aunts and uncles they will only know are my officemates, besides my siblings and in-laws.


OF MARRIAGES AND GETTING MARRIED

The elders said, "bila dah sampai seru nanti, berjodohlah.." I buy that =)

The second half of 2008 has already started. Wedding invitations from my fellas pour in like there's no time for me to breathe until I get the next invitation. So alright, I am starting to feel like I am in God-knows-which-poll-position-it-is, in terms of winning the race of who-gets-to-reach-the-status-of-being-wedded.

I dunno why, but the sense of competition is coming back to me. Believe it or not, I surrendered during my time in the varsity cuz I knew I would never beat Tpot or Rahimi, or better, I didn't wanna spend my time like they did. And that I thought, if I were to continue being tied-up in the competition mentality, I would lose the fun things that I could do. So the past 5 years, everything was done 'under my interest, capacity and self-drive'. Yeah, it went fine. Varsity years was great. But I guess now, being just 'fine' is not what I want any longer.

I have this cousin. Pretty and educated. It can be said that we competed on almost everything: UPSR, PMR, SPM, which university we attended, what kind of job, who knows how to cook what, who bakes better cakes and biscuits on Raya.. those kinda stuff. I guess it was because of this competition idea which made us strangers to each other. Only now that we're grown ups, we are trying to mend the ties between us.

And so, this coming August and December, she will get engaged and married. Yerp.. again, that makes me feel I am in God-knows-which-poll-position-it-is-to-reach-the-status-of-being-wedded. Darn~ I hate this feeling. I wish that I could think of buying her a sweet present for her big day. But the sense of competition is killing me. Darn darn..~!

I confided in a friend about this. He told me just to chill and relax. Yerp, I should realize, it is after the wedding where greater responsibility will be carried.. and getting married is not just for the sake of the life record. I guess it is better for me to equip myself with better knowledge and and conscience before taking this next important step.

Oh well.. I know I'm learning everyday.. hmm..


CLASSIFYING YOURSELF

During the induction course that I underwent in February, there was a fragment of the course that enabled us to identify what type of personality each of us had. I was classified as 'The Shark' that reflected me being dominant. There were 3 other types: The Owl, The Teddy Bear and the Sheep. I can't really recall what the three others specifically mean, but they are something like this: The Owl: the thinker, who pauses, takes time to decide; The Teddy Bear: carefree, likes to have fun, sweet; The Sheep: rather shy, needs to be pushed, makes the Shark type angry, haha.

Okay, so I was then classified as The Shark. I was quite comfortable by being classified as so, because I thought, over the years, I haven't actually lose that part of me. I was always the dominant type. I didn't wanna lose it.

Lately, I did a few reflections on my actions, behavior and doings. I guess this Shark attitude could actually drive me up the wall. It's like, I can anticipate, in a few years to come, I might be diagnosed with having high blood pressure or some other diseases related to that. So I think, it is best if I were to revisit my inner self again.. which I have not properly done for a couple of years.

I read somewhere, that everyone at present needs to be agile to the call of globalization. And that, the key to globalization is to be fast, accurate and competent, so that one can stay competitive and relevant to the present world. And I feel, that Shark attitude is overwhelming me, because I thought I wanna answer the call of globalization. But there are times when I actually don't.

There are times when I loved to answer numerous work calls. And there are times when I wish I was somewhere peaceful and quiet. To learn to better serve the Creator.

Yeah, it's good to keep abreast with the modernization, but I am afraid all these will take away the person i would wanna be.

There is an old saying 'Dunia dikelek, akhirat dijunjung; agama dididik, moden dibela'

I hope my conscience will be better..

Malam boring

2145 hrs

At this point of time:

- I'm amazed pemimpin-pemimpin senja ni pun ada Facebook.. kalau blog tu boleh la tahan lagi. Gilers impressed! Nak scout berapa ramai penyokong ler tu.. (>_<)

- rasa amatttlaaa bercinta kerana esok terpaksa pergi Bintulu.. haih cepat la masa berlalu.. takkan la Julai pun akan jadi miserable month kut.. seems to me it will be affirmative .. nooo..~

- pelik kerana dalam dua hari ini telah terserempak dengan seseorang yang tak mahu dijumpai who looked at me as if we have some unfinished deals.. apa hal la mamat tu..? Jealous eh.. haha~ *wink*

- rasa amat la boring kerana dalam dua minggu ni hidup akan terkeluar daripada kebiasaan.. sedikit keseoranganlah..

- i thought i have been quite honest. Agaknya tak cukup lagi untuk membuatkan my Big Ma'am notice.. isk2.. or dia saja buat begitu so that I would change my mind.. hmm.. neverrr~

- dua colleaguesku telah menamatkan zaman bujang (sunyi je office lately.. they are on leave) and because of that I get to be the target of that 'boring' question.. ye, sampai seru saya kawen le.. bawak sabaq sket..

- Hidup Gs di KLCC telah menjadi sedikit mellow dengan pemergian Nadi ke Kerteh untuk menyahut seruan menjadi engineer semula.. ye, pas ni my turn dengan Iman pulak eh.. amin.. (^_^)

- I promised myself that I won't spend as much as last month. But I just bought myself a pair of comfy sandals.. for the sake of comfy walk in Bintulu (-_-) abes la kena leter sebab tak save..

- I have missed quite a number of engagements + weddings. Sorry la guys.. tak sengaja.

- I haven't packed my things. Gotta go.


2235 hrs

Of plants and pets

My fave spot in my house and its compound would be the lawn.

Though the bougainvillea plants are not really budding that many flowers, I never give up hope to see them popping new petals.. and I always wait for the next weekend to come, to see if there is any good progress.

Yerp.. the greeneries around the house helps me to calm down somehow.. there is pleasure being surrounded by green growing trees and plants. Furthermore, the longan tree is starting to bear fruits. We also have a few tapioca plants, and they are growing fast. Siapa nak free sayur pucuk ubi, bolehlah mintak ye.. no charge at all :)

Ooops.. hehe.. that is Ozal in the top-left pic. I am not sure what was he checking on.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When I came downstairs this morning, Mom told me that our 2-week adopted little mynah which we called Chipchip has died. It didn't really eat since yesterday morning. I thought Chipchip was getting bored of the bird palette that we have been feeding it. Chipchip's death added our bad record in raising pets.. sigh.

We had a few pets before: 2 kittens, a cat which we called Minah, 3 Oscars, a mynah (which we didn't give a name) and Chipchip.

We had the Oscars as Ozal's birthday present. I think that was back in 2002. They were really aggressive, and they fed on small fishes and tiny shrimps. They died at the same time my grandmother was stricken by dengue in 2003. We didn't know if the Oscars were infected also, but yeah.. it was sad that we had an empty aquarium after the incident. Mom didn't wanna have fishes as pets anymore.

THE OSCARS

Minah was a special stray cat for us. The fact that she always dropped by in the morning and at night ignited our affection for her. A few days after giving birth to her two lovely kittens in our kitchen, she behaved really differently. She vomited and excreted everywhere in the lawn, and the last time we saw her was when she was lying under the pudding plant at the corner of the lawn. We were very sad and buried her. We gave away her kittens to my aunt, who is a better caretaker of cats compared to us.

Chipchip came after about two years after we didn't really have any pet. She was an orphan nestling, left abandoned on my room ceiling. My dad took it off the ceiling and brought it down, since she was making noises up there. For the first two weeks, she was okay. I didn't really know what went wrong.. but I suppose she must have been needing something that we can't give her: a mother bird's treat. Today, she left us.. I felt really bad..

That mynah.. oh she was an even more fragile story.. I can't really recall though..

But all I know, I wouldn't wanna be so auspicious of taking care of animals again.. Though the intention is good, but I would prefer if their life span can be prolonged if they stay in their own comfortable zone.. that even cushions and expensive palettes can't compare.

I wonder if I can keep these words..

Lookout! (if I have tagged you~)

Okay. So last week was a busy week for me and KLCC fellas.. especially on answering-the-emails thingy. I'm not gonna defend my employer here.. cuz I think I'm done with it, and how it drained the energy out of me.. I guess I'd better be doing something better. Angry people won't access their rational heads anyway.

But the thing is, no one was there to help clear the fact, officially. That interview with Tan Sri was a wasted opportunity by the TV station to help clear the facts, thanks to the two (shallow) journalists and the (err) chairperson. Except us, the employees who at most, could only reply the allegations thrown to us.. but of course, never to the satisfaction of the bombardiers. I guess the premier enjoyed it very much since people were diverting their blame elsewhere, whereas all the blame should be put on him.

Ah.. just gth, premier.

Aite, so now, I need to unwind for a while. Let's play the game of tagging. Those whom I have tagged below, you can answer these (or should I say, you must! hehe..)

7 facts about me
a) I am the eldest of four
b) I'm half Perakian and half Johorean, but I claim myself a full Selangorean.. hihi..
c) I have about 9 moles on my face (and counting..)
d) I love singing a lot. Nevertheless, I don't like karaoke competitions.
e) My shoe size is 8 (ye.. sgtlah besar ye.. >_<)
f) I am actually not that talkative, trust me.
g) My fave item when I was in school was my box of oil pastels. Yerp.. I loved art.

7 things that scare me
a) Cockroaches (the most!!)
b) Ermm.. almost all insects (minus ants)
c) Ghosts (though I have never encountered one, but nevermind)
d) Big-built, rough-looking man (ala2 the villain in Mulan animation). Ramai seyh men like that in KL
e) Death
f) Illness
g) Stormy weather

7 songs playing in my mind
a) Stop and Stare
b) Teardrops on My Guitar
c) Aku Lebih Tahu
d) Damaged
e) Sempurna
f) Aku Skandal
g) Pagi Yang Gelap

7 valuable things in my life
a) My family
b) WND 2204 driver
c) My Gs
d) Good friends around me.. you know who you are =)
e) My gadgets and accessories
f) My certificates
g) My resume

7 'first times' in life
a) Singing in front of a crowd at the age of 6
b) Became the class monitor in Standard One
c) Khatam Quran at 11 years old
d) Rollerblading when I was 11
e) Won a debate competition at 12 years old
f) Go-karting at 15 years old
g) First time staying in a hostel at 18 years old in Asasi Sains UM

7 best gifts received
a) A white gold ring
b) A brown pashmina
c) A silver pearl bracelet
d) A purple pearl bracelet
e) A pink pearl bracelet (three bracelets from three friends okay.. isn't that sweet :D)
f) A coin bank. Helps me save more :)
g) A hand-made photo frame

7 friends that I wanna tag :)
a) Kak Zufina (or en. Dayat yang tolong buatkan nanti? haha :D)
b) Eija
c) Radzi
d) Hafidz
e) Enol
f) Adrian
g) Iman (kalau hang rajin la..hehe)

Ngok ngek hari Jumaat

Ok.. after a while tak update blog, I promised myself that tonight I would jot down anything that I can think of.. even though it's crap!

Hari ini dalam sejarah
I dunno what will my (future) children read in their history books.. I dunno if Kementerian Pelajaran will write all the glory of the nation sahaja.. Tak aci la kan macam tu.. semata-mata nak cover kelemahan pemimpin yang teruk.

I just viewed the video on the parade against the fuel price hike tu.. i think it was led by Salahuddin Ayub, among other leaders. Kalau aku jadi Paklah la.. malunya aku if rakyat want me to step down. Bukan setakat written protest atau invade website PM ye. Ini dah terang-terangan menyuruh step down. Aku rasa Paklah ni bukan aje tak pandai (memang sejarah pengajian dia pun memahatkan yang dia tak pandai sejak muda-muda lagi kan) tapi bodoh sombong lak tu. Dah tak reti nak melukis, tak payah la berangan nak lukis painting mengalahkan Yusof Gajah atau pelukis Central Market sekalipun. Dah tak reti nak mentadbir, bagi sajalah pada yang lebih berkepimpinan dan berfikiran seperti seorang leader.

Dan selain rakyat Malaysia who have my sympathy, my support also goes to my Tan Sri.. people who are not enlightened can say what they want.. tapi I suggest kenalilah custodian minyak dan gas negara ni dulu.. baru la hentam beb.. nampak berasas sket (kalau argument tu berasas la kan..)

Hmm.. akan adakah coretan tentang perhimpunan sebegini dalam buku teks Sejarah 10 -20 tahun akan datang..? Or some writeup begini "Paklah gagal menjadi pemimpin yang berkesan sehingga memaksa rakyat menukar kerajaan kepada Pakatan Rakyat"

Ntah la.. takpe2.. mak ayah boleh jadi storyteller, haha!


Nak emo jap..
Hmm.. when I was in Form 4 and Form five, I permitted my friends calling me Kak Pah (though I was used to 'Sharifah' all the way before that!) because they justified that it was a symbol of respect towards the headgirl (yes, I was the headgirl!). Later, bila masuk universiti, entah siapa la start calling me Kak Pah (which I recently found out that it was Thana!), boleh kata most of the varsity mates who can be called distant friends called me by that nickname. I hated it actually. Nevertheless I managed to change the nickname to Ira for those close to me. So yang mana panggil Kak Pah tu, they are of course not my close friends, or I personally define as 'member angkat-angkat tangan je'.

Now, kat KLCC, jangan mimpilah I wanna respond to any Kak Pah calling anymore ya.

There is this friend of mine, I wonder why he interchangeably call me Ira and Kak Pah. Recently he needed my help to get into my company. I gave him the contact person and I expect him to liaise directly with her (be independent la wei~). But he kept on bugging me to ask for the updates, which he can easily do it himself. Last Wednesday, he opened a chat conversation with me, by calling 'Ira'. I didn't respond because I was away from my workstation for quite a few hours. Then yesterday, he opened a chat conversation with me again, by calling me 'Kak Pah'. Hell no, I won't respond ok. Nasib kaulah..



Tolong kawan.. ?
To what extent can you help a friend? I used to be inspired of being a good Samaritan, but now, I guess no more miss nice girl. I seldom ask for help from my friends because I don't wanna trouble them, and I don't wanna put the value of friendship on a favor not being fulfilled. But I realized that there are a few friends who take me for granted. Since I can't really confront face to face, I'll say them here
- bila nak bayar hutang?
- see me when you miss me, not when you have problems only.
- I will just be honest, cuz honesty is the best policy, either you like it or not.

Once I read this somewhere.. "Friends come and go, but friendship is there to stay".. I wonder what it means.. seriously I can't figure out any sense there..

But I'm glad so far, I have never encountered this with my Gs. I hope I never will. God willing. Gs, thanks for the sincerity.. =)

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Esok..??? I ada date di post office~ haha.. see you there!

Sabtu Malam Ahad

Today is the final day of May.. and I'm glad it ended with a feel of happiness inside =) though I don't really like May, and it felt like forever to reach this date. Alhamdulillah tomorrow is June.. well, not that I like June either.. but I would love to see what will happen to me in June :) (bunyi mcm saspens jek eh.. ececece..)

When I started this blog, I told myself that I wouldn't want to write about myself.. I mean, I don't wanna get that personal. Hmm, I guess I would wanna ask for an exemption for this post, boleh? Sure la boleh kan.. this is my blog pun :P

Currently mood:
I am a little excited. I will not reveal the reason as yet.. but I know for sure it will make my sleep to have less tossing and turning after this. I know I could smile more eventually.. pray hard!

Current wish:
To make some people know that I am actually not that dependable (yes!) Why..? Cuz I wish those whom I reckon could be independent could actually be independent. I don't nag, but don't presume I will just accept. Since I don't really express myself that clearly face-to-face (tak sampai hati beb..) I'll just say it here. Please Grow Up. I have my life to lead too.

Current indulgences:
One Republic (they are sooo good! It's so hard to sing Stop & Stare like the vocalist does..) and health matters. Do you know that is it wise to vary your cultured-drink because if you drink the same type of cultured bacteria everyday, they will get used to your intestinal tract environment, and that is not so good for your stomach (err.. correct me if I'm wrong kak Zufina..) haha.. if you are interested, you might wanna read more details on prebiotics and probiotics. Important for babies. Mommas-to-be, please take note!

And at present, I take different cultured yogurt drink daily (^_^)

Current lesson learnt:
Honesty is the best policy.. I should admit that the statement holds. I think I was honest enough these two months to tell my superior what I wanted to tell for the past few months. But nevertheless, my honesty, without His help, would still mean nothing.

Current nostalgia:
30th May 2007: Modern Control Engineering was the final exam paper I sat for. I missed the time my coursemates and I ran for the library to shoot some photos after the exam ended.


Current issue:
Our KPDNHEP minister is kinda slow in solving the hike in the price of rice, isn't he? I thought he was this really effective leader.. sigh (abes la I kena ISA kalau salah cakap). I would not buy rice for the time being if I were Mom. Makan roti hari-hari. Boleh diet! (perhaps only applicable to the unmarried.. {>_<})

ermm.. mungkin itu suggestion yang lame.. huhu..

True Colors

During my recent trip to Bintulu with my new senior manager, she posed a lot of personal questions to me. I don't usually welcome questions about myself, because none will ask anything about you one question after another (I think so!) unless he/ she is trying to understand or make an impression about you.

Five of her points that I could recall were:

'it is really a miss if you don't enjoy what He has given you'.. (yeah.. I missed rollerblading with these fast legs -_-!)
'have you ever looked at yourself long enough in the mirror and admire His gift?' (ece.. lawa sangat ye aku nih.. haha)
'you should learn to take from those who wanna give you..' (personally, i prefer giving.. cuz 'tangan yang memberi lebih baik daripada yang menerima..')
'you should not try to cover yourself.. it's like wearing an unseen hijab.. you should not be timid to show your true colors..' (it's not because I'm timid actually.. but as a woman, 'pandangan itu perlu selalu direndahkan..')

Well, I guess everyone's opinion should be listened to. And yeah, people who know you for a short while tend to focus more on the displayed traits rather than the underlying attributes and persona. And i guess that was what happened in my SM's case.

Okay, the feedbacks will not have any function if no intervention plan to figure the corrective measure is taking place, am I right? Hmm.. it's not that I have any intervention plan already.. I didn't say I agree with the feedbacks she gave me. But then, it's worth my time to think, why did she think like that?

Most of her points, I guess, commended on the way I behave and how I manipulate my appearance in public. The way I behave in the office, she said, is best summarized by one word: serious. Yes, I don't really smile that often when I am at the office, especially when I receive new assignments to be done.. well, it is definitely not because I am not enjoying it.. but rather, looking serious helps to preserve the drive to work in me (i have been like that for ages~ ask Dib or Fatin!) Also, not being too friendly helps to keep my relationship with the male colleagues to be maintained at the platonic level.. it works at least for me, especially when there are many in the office who are still looking around.. huhu. But of course, I do smile when people drop by at my workstation asking for assistance on HR matters. No doubt about it.

Remembering Cyndi Lauper's True Colors,

"But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow"

I believe in those lines. I believe that our true colors can be better seen by those of special ties with us. It is exactly not my idea to spill myself wherever I go. Because our true colors, sometimes are not being displayed directly. Sometimes it needs certain ability in other people to see right through us. It is how they see our true colors, without us making the effort to really show them. Because at times, we are not that aware of our true colors too.. and we may need help from the people who understands us best to show to us that we are really this or we are actually that.

For example, some friends will laugh at me if I say 'I'm gonna spend my weekend trying out new recipes' since to them, I don't look like this maiden who spends her time in the kitchen, in which in fact, I do. Nevertheless, I'm not gonna waste my time convincing them that I love to cook. Yeah, I know that many distant acquaintances would take me for a rough girl, which I actually love to hear. However, it breaks my heart if anyone close to me would think so. I deliberately create that kind of impression in people who knew me for a short while though, because it is easier to keep the distance in that manner. At least I think so.

Well, I guess everyone has their own way to express and appreciate themselves. I do too. It's just that I don't do it as often as searching for new recipes during the weekends. Also, it is not that easy to find something that really satisfy myself. Not even winning first runner up in Euphonious okay (and it was definitely not because we didn't win first place either..) maybe the last few great things that happened to me were EDX and Convo Dinner.. where I got to sing the songs that I really wanna croon in public. But that was last year. This year, I'm still searching for it.

Perhaps the differences among people is what makes them question a lot about other people's doings. Yerp, differences are interesting, and liberating too. It only becomes a problem when we have problem adapting, if not, understanding.

Examples that I can think of right now:
"Euuww.. why you like to wear pants..? It's not feminine maa~ Buy skirts lorr", or "Kenapa you pakai Maxis? Bukan Maxis macam sosial sikit kah trademarknya?" Judgmental~


.. atau adakah aku terlalu angkuh untuk menerima soalan begini.. hmm..

WHUTEVER.. (>_<)

u n t i t l e d

I can't seem to know why
This heart floats and sinks at the same time
But it doesn't matter
As long as you're near
I'll feel all right..

I can't seem to figure out
Some questions inside, the answers seem to hide
But it doesn't matter if they didn't appear
Cuz even if it's just a whisper
You will always hear..

I don't know what the future will bring
Will the promises turn into real thing
But I guess all we have is us
and in us we trust
to weave our story
from now 'til we rust..

..and now..
I'm singing this song
Knowing you too would sing along
oh I just love it, the way that you do it
Melts me away in my dreams..


* * * * * *


(hey.. i'm writing poems again..~)

U N D E R S T A N D

"Yeah I feel you.. uhuh.. (continues to listen).. uhuh.."

Understand. I think this word is very much often understated.

To understand is really essential as a part of communicating with people. Not only that being understanding shows that we care, it is also imperative in order to have a smooth message flow, without having ambiguities in it.

To understand, at times does not require us to also participate in the talking. All we have to do is listen and pay attention to what is being communicated: the gestures, the body language, the face mimics, the voice tone, besides the words being said. Keeping quiet does not really mean that one is not interested in the topic, but more so, different people have different ways and capacity in understanding and perceiving messages. Some prefer just to listen and withhold the comments. Some understand slower than the others. Therefore, if a message being sent is received and being responded to a little later, the person sending the message should not quickly jump to a conclusion that there is a misunderstood conflict just because the other person replies to him longer than he expected.

Gestures show the intensity of the feeling the person who expresses it. Not all people have the ability to easily understand non-verbal actions. Well, to me, it requires practice, and lotsa reading too. Because only when you understand others can you relate to them. To further understand, personally I think, asking more and more questions would help. There are many ways to understand others. Just reach out and get to know more of those who communicate with us.

At times, I thought I can easily understand people when they tell me their problems. To a certain extent, because I feel that I am a welcoming person, I don't really mind people coming to me and discuss a word or two, or share some perspectives of life in which I strongly admit is the most interesting topic to be talked about, always. Of all my close friends, I might understand Dib the most, as we shared lotsa life background and past stories. Definitely that helped us communicating, and that if we feel that we have mistaken the message, we would immediately check to find out each others' understanding on what was being talked about. Or perhaps girl-to-girl friendship is usually like that? I dunno.. maybe.

Nevertheless, I think the hardest person to be understood is the one closest to the heart. In conflicts, though we know them thoroughly, it is still hard for us to understand their situation, especially when both parties are in the middle of a cold war. That is when conflicts arise: when neither side wants to understand, because they feel they are not being understood, so it is kinda unfair for them to understand the other party. Huh.. is my description of the scene correct?

As far as I see it, understanding is far than just listening, nodding your head, with some 'yeah.. yeah, I understand..' sentences, and continuing to listen with crooked eyebrows. It requires reflecting, having empathy, trying to put ourselves in their shoes, and the decision of approving or disapproving the act or behavior of that particular person, among other actions that I may have not thought of here..

I think if one wants to be understood, one has to learn to understand too. I would not wanna understand you if you do not want to understand me, although understanding you might be easier for me compared to otherwise. You may never fully understand me; at least you can put yourself in my shoes and try to relate. At least that would be of help. I think so.